Stitcher has become the first news radio app to integrate tightly with Facebooks Timeline features.
Stitcher

Stitcher, an app that is essentially Pandora for news radio, says it is now the first service to tightly integrate such programming with Facebook's Timeline. The move could be the biggest mobile implementation of Timeline to date, the company says.

Stitcher, which gives iPhone and iPad users access to more than 6,000 on-demand news radio shows and podcasts, and which lets those users create custom stations around them, is launching its Timeline integration today, a step it says will help news junkies discover large numbers of new programs as they see, in real-tme, what their friends are listening to.

Though younger Facebook users may look more to services like Spotify, Stitcher CEO Noah Shanok told CNET that for older members, there is plenty of interest in news. Plus, Stitcher provides an on-demand digital home for all kinds of spoken word programming, from just about any genre you can think of, or source. From NPR to CNN, Rush Limbaugh to Rachel Maddow, and much more. And now, that programming will show up seamlessly in Timeline.

"In order to do something right, you need to be laser focused," said Shanok. "That's where Pandora's been laser focused on music side [and] we're laser focused on spoken word."

Shanok explained that those in Facebook using Timeline, will see what their friends are listening to, which should help them discover new programming they might like. "We have a huge selection of NPR content," Shanok said, "but there's other content like NPR that you might like that could be exposed through a slocial integration and viewing the listening habits of a friend who you know has similar habits as you do."